Pink Slip is devoted to topics related - however tangentially - to the workplace, business, management, the economy, lay-offs, etc. At least that's how it started out. Now it's whatever pops into my mind.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Thin Mint e-cigs? No matter the Girls Scouts are smoking mad.

As commercial, non-home-made cookies go, it’s hard to improve on the perfection that is the Girl Scout Thin Mint.

Nothing I like better than to see a troop setting up shop on the corner, and nothing I find more disappointing than to get there and find that they’ve sold out the Thin Mints. Sure, Somoas are pretty good, but they’re no Thin Mints. It is always a sad day chez moi when the last Thin Mint in the freezer is consumed.

And the Girl Scouts know that the Thin Mint is a golden brand, so they’ll do what they need to do to win a Brand Protection badge.

So, while the Boy Scouts are figuring out what to do about gay leaders, the Girl Scouts are fighting a much better fight, going after e-cigarette vendors who sell “thin mint e-cigs.”

The Girl Scouts, General Mills, and Tootsie Roll Industries have all sent cease-and-desist letters to liquid nicotine companies, asking them to stop using the names of their trademarked brands and threatening legal action if the name appropriation continues. (Source: Business Week)

General Mills wants the smokies to bogart use of Cinnamon Toast Crunch as a flavor. And Tootsie Roll is, presumably, going after anyone who wants to call an e-cig a Tootsie Roll. (Tootsie Roll is certainly a rather distinct flavor which, especially when coupled with its peculiar consistency, makes for the unmistakable Tootsie Roll experience. But I can’t see it as an e-cig flavor.)

I guess this is all part of a trend to tart up stuff that’s bad for you, making it more palatable and appealing, especially to the kiddy consumer. Thus we see all these flavored vodkas (marshmallow?), and, I guess, flavored e-cigarettes.

Not all the e-cigs are developing a sweet tooth. One producer, ECBlend, had a Jager Bomb variant. To avoid any unpleasantness with Jagermeister, they renamed their e-cig a J Bomb. They also have a Red Bull version called Red Energy. (J Bomb sounds cool, but Red Energy is kind of a yawner. But maybe it works if you’re an e-cig smoker. Or non-smoker. Or whatever they call themselves.)

ECBlend also sells a Gummy Bear version dubbed Gungo Bear. Chacun à son e-cig, I guess. And, of course, those Gungo Bears appeal to the kids that e-cigs are aimed at. “As one eighth-grader told NPR earlier this year, ‘My favorite flavor is gummy bears because it tastes really good.’

Eighth graders?

Are we raising a generation of vapers?

Guess they can puff away at their Gungo Bear e-cig after they’ve enjoyed a couple of belts of marshmallow-flavored vodka.